Manhattan prosecutors have delayed convening a grand jury in the case of last weekend’s booze-tainted, New York Harbor fatal boating collision while they investigate what role was played by a third vessel — a Shark sight-seeing speedboat.
Accused drunk-boating private equities big Richard Aquilone learned the good news today during a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court.
“They’re holding off while they investigate the Shark boat, among other things,” Aquilone’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said after court.
“The Shark boat cut in front of my client,” the lawyer said. “My guy’s going south through the harbor, toward the Verrazano Bridge,” he said.
“The Shark boat is going from New York to New Jersey, approaching perpendicular to my guy’s boat,” he said.
“Under maritime rules, the Shark boat — the boat on the right — is supposed to yield. But he did not give way, causing my guy to veer, and creating a tremendous wake.
“Nobody could have seen that smaller vessel with the size of that wake,” Agnifilo said, referring to the 17-foot Bayliner in which physical therapist Jijo Puthuvamkunnath, 30, lost his life just weeks before his wedding.
Aquilone, 39, of Jersey City, registered a .06 blood alcohol content — below the legal limit of .08 for intoxication but high enough for an initial charge of operating a vessel while under the influence of alcohol.
U.S. Park Police officials have said previously that they believe Aquilone’s 30-foot ProLine hit the wake of the passing Shark boat, operated by Circle Line, whose officials have denied responsibility for the crash.